Facebook’s parent company investing $800 million to open facility in South Carolina

Technology giant Meta announced Thursday that it’s investing nearly a billion dollars to open the company’s first facility in South Carolina, according to a news release from the Governor’s Office .

The parent company for Facebook , Instagram , Messenger and WhatsApp said that its new data center will be in Aiken County, according to the release.

Meta — which S.C. Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III called a globally recognized company — will invest $800 million in the operation, and that also will support 100 jobs, the Governor’s Office said.

The 715,000-square-foot data center, located in the Sage Mill Industrial Park in Aiken County , is expected to be open by spring of 2027, according to the release. That’s in the Graniteville area, near Exit 11 on Interstate 20.

Once operational, the data center “will be optimized for Meta’s artificial intelligence workloads,” company officials said in the release. Meta’s data centers are part of the global infrastructure that brings the company’s technologies and services to life, according to the release.

”Meta’s decision to locate its newest operation in Aiken County is a major win for South Carolina’s thriving technology industry ... further driving innovation,” Gov. Henry McMaster said in the release.

The data center’s electricity use will be matched with 100% renewable energy, and Meta will work with local partners to add new renewables to the grid, according to the release.

The Aiken County data center will be Meta’s 22 ^nd data center in the U.S. and 26 ^th in the world, the Governor’s Office said.

Anyone interested in applying for a job with Meta should go to the company’s careers page . Meta officials said the company is committed to hiring locally and working with local partners to construct, operate, supply and maintain its data centers.

“We are excited to make Aiken County our new home and are committed to playing a positive role here and investing in the community’s long-term vitality,” Meta Director of Data Center Strategy Kevin Janda said in the release. “South Carolina stood out as an outstanding location for our newest data center thanks to its great access to infrastructure and energy, deep pool of talent, and amazing community partners. Our thanks go out to all who have helped get us here.”